When he died last Saturday in Havana, Germán Piniella lost a battle against cancer, but not the war. Until the final minute of his 85 years of existence he fought for his truths, which he shared with the destiny of his people, in defense of Cuban culture, ethics and the Revolution.
The image that will last will be that of a man who understood culture as an integral process, from fiction writing and journalism, to the use of social networks, where he made visible the sharpest contours of his way of thinking and acting.
As a storyteller, he became known in 1971 with the volume On the way again, and in 2013 he published the novel A touch of melancholy, Enough to inscribe his name in the most outstanding saga of Cuban police literature. Next to its companion Amelia Rodriguez conceived Eating with Doña Lita (2010), interesting approach to culinary culture.
Germán’s imprint, however, went far beyond the books he published, even his literary translations of contemporary American literature. Accompaniment from criticism, record production and promotion to the writers and troubadours of his generation – essential his work around Noel Nicola and August Blanca – stood out for the seriousness and lucidity with which he assumed this commitment.
The Cuban Association of Social Communicators awarded him the Espai Prize for the work of life. Both the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and the Union of Journalists of Cuba, organizations to which he belonged, lamented the loss of Germán.